An Instructor
will wear the Instructor Insignia, Red
Band across one end of their Blackbelt.
This Red
Band will also have the date inscribed
on it that they passed their SHODAN
grade. This will serve to show the level of experience
that a particular Instructor has. As well as this,
the date on the Instructor Insignia ( Red
Band ) is used for future Instructor
Grade promotions. Instructor Grades are show by
White Tags on the Blackbelt, two for 2nd Degree,
3 for 3rd degree etc.
This insignia will also have the following details
on it.
The Instructors name.
The current Instructor (degree) level (upon most
recent promotion).
The date ( month/year ) that the individual passed
the Instructor ( Red
Band ) exam.
The name of examiner.
From this a person can work out the number of
years completed as an Instructor, see example:
Craig
Anthony Booth
"4th
Degree"
( Instructor exam - March
97 )
Arjarn Sken
( +10 years
)
Here Craig's Red
Band - ( Instructor insignia ),
shows that he passed his Instructor exam in March
1997 under Master Sken.
Craig will receive promotion to 5th
Degree Instructor ( +15 years
teaching experience ) in March 2011.
Instructor Exam
During the probationary period a Blackbelts
ability working with different people, their Patients
and Teaching Skills will be continually assessed.
Also during their time as an Apprentice Instructor
they will be required to Referee at competitons,
gaining their Referee's Certificate,
as well as work the corner on Competitions to
gain their Cornermans Certificate
and Judge at competitions to get their
Judges Certificate. This expands their
confidence in these very important areas, as this
is technically WORK EXPERIENCE as opposed to just
Classroom or GRADING EXAM experience.
This system, the OKAMI-DO
system, may seem quite indepth and it is true
that not everyone who has started along the path
as an Apprentice Instructor has
made the DAN/Grades as an Instructor at Warrington
Kickboxing Studio.
Some people are excellent Kickboxers, but just
cannot pass on their Knowledge to others as their
teaching and people skills are not at a level
required to become an OKAMI-DO
Kickboxing Instructor.
As you can see for those that do attain their
OKAMI-DO INSTRUCTOR Grade, this
helps create Teachers of the highest level and
indeed has helped enhance Warrington Kickboxing
Studios reputation for being a Blackbelt
School of Excellence.
Even more so when you consider that students
of many other Martial Arts Centres simply open a club
themselves after passing a Grading Exam! Although
their Blackbelt Assesment may be equally as intense
at the OKAMI-DO Blackbelt exam, they have no actual
Teaching/Work experience whereby they can correctly
learn how to teach.
Someone who passes their driving test cannot,
and should not, immediately open a Driving School
and it should be the same for all Martial Arts,
as indeed it is for Warrington
Kickboxing Studio and its members.
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